10.8.18

THE ORACLE

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www.usforacle.com

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I DA

Former university registrar awarded damages in suit against USF

By Jesse Stokes E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

Search firm chosen to find Genshaft’s replacement

By Jesse Stokes

A federal jury in Tampa ruled in favor of Angela DeBose, former USF registrar, on Sept.

26 following claims that her termination in 2015 was a result of retaliation, but her allegations of racial discrimination were not judged to be the determining factor in her dismissal.

DeBose was awarded $310,500 in damages as a result of the retaliation verdict. USF plans to appeal.

DeBose, an African-American woman, said the retaliation was a result of her filing racial Angela DeBose, former university registrar, alleged incidents of discrimination and retaliation in discrimination complaints, both internally and with the U.S. her case against USF, following her termination. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. DeBose said she was USF employee. for an employer ... to discriminate individual’s race, color, religion, passed over for a high-ranking DeBose cited Title VII of the against any individual with sex, or national origin.” job in Enrollment Planning and Civil Rights Act of 1964 as grounds respect to (their) compensation, The jury found that “race Management and the position for the suit, which says it is “an terms, conditions, or privileges n See SUIT on PAGE 3 eventually was given to another unlawful employment practice of employment, because of such

COMAC deletion bill sparks controversy, may not proceed

By Alyssa Stewart A S S I S T A N T

N E W S

E D I T O R

Student Government (SG) passed a bill on Sept. 25 that will potentially remove the College of Medicine Allocation Council (COMAC) as a result of allegations of irresponsible conduct based on SG regulations.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Yousef Afifi created the bill to dismiss COMAC because of concerns relayed to him by other senators about transgressions and possibly improper

funding. However, COMAC Chair Elisabeth Givens said the council has acted in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that were arranged at the time.

Afifi’s bill passed in the Policy Committee — six members voting yes and two voting no —and in Senate — 24 people voting yes and four voting no.

SG conducted a town hall meeting on Oct. 5 with the Activity and Service Fee Recommendation Committee

(ASRC) and COMAC members to review funding standards for this year.

COMAC served as a middleman between budget submissions for the medical organizations and SG. If the bill is officially approved by Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine, medical organizations would go to ASRC directly for budget approval.

After the conclusion of the town hall meeting, however, Givens said she does not believe the deletion bill

will progress any further because of the decision that was made to make collaborations between ASRC and COMAC. However, Givens said she was unaware of the COMAC deletion bill until the day it was being discussed.

She was given opportunities to vouch on behalf of COMAC at the policy and Senate meetings, but she said the bill passed within the same day.

n See COMAC on PAGE 3

E D I T O R

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C H I E F

In the months leading up to System President Judy Genshaft’s departure from USF after nearly two decades, there is much to do for the committee responsible for finding her successor.

Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc. was the firm chosen by the members of the search committee to find USF’s next system president.

Les Muma, chair of the search committee, said in a conference call Friday that four search firms were presented and he was able to narrow that down to three rather quickly.

Muma said he and fellow search committee member Rhea Law interviewed each of the three search firm finalists “in depth” for about an hour and a half. He said he and Law both independently chose Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc. as the standout search firm from the interviews, before passing their suggestion on to Board of Trustees (BOT) Chair Brian Lamb and BOT Member John Ramil, who also agreed the firm was the appropriate choice.

According to Muma, Greenwood/ Asher & Associates, Inc. has recently found presidents for schools such as the University of Florida and Ohio State, among others.

Muma said he and Law were looking for nine specific characteristics in a search firm to find the next system president. These included the

n See SEARCH on PAGE 7

NEWS 3 OPINION 6 SPORTS 8

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The Oracle THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1966

Editor in Chief Jesse Stokes @JesseStokes813

Managing Editor Josh Fiallo @ByJoshFiallo

News Editor

Maria Ranoni @ByMariaRanoni

Sports Editor Sam Newlon @newlon_sam

Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman @ChaveliGuzman

Opinion Editor

Aida Vazquez-Soto

Staff Writers

Matthew Cutillo Alyssa Stewart Brian Hattab

Graphic Artists Avery Dyen Jessica Thornton

Advertising Sales Kimberly Flores Skyler Nickols Katelyn Williams

The Oracle is published Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and once weekly, Wednesday, during the summer.

The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student.

Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).

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CORRECTIONS The Oracle will correct or clarify factual errors. Contact Editor in Chief Jesse Stokes at 974-5190.

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NEWS

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SUIT

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was a motivating factor” when USF terminated DeBose, but it also ruled that the university would have dismissed DeBose even if race was not taken into account. Consultants hired by the university said that the Registrar’s Office, under DeBose, was “not willing to encompass change,” among other findings.

DeBose’s damage award, which included compensation for loss of wages and benefits, stemmed, in part, from her claim that she was denied a position at another state university after an unflattering reference from a USF official.

Richard McCrea, the university’s outside legal representation in the case, was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

DeBose, who represented herself, said the jury verdict was fair and added that the dollar amount awarded to her may not impact the university very much financially, but that it should affect the pride of the university.

“USF has nothing to be proud of,” DeBose said in an email to The Oracle. “In fact, USF should feel ashamed that its actions were believed to be motivated by race and that it retaliated against me—in violation of Title VII. “Because USF has spent so much more many times over than the jury award of $310,500, the amount itself may not sting or make a difference; however, the verdict itself certainly should have had an impact. As a higher education institution, USF should have learned from this … but it is apparent USF has learned nothing.”

Adam Freeman, a university

spokesperson said the university plans to appeal the decision.

“We are pleased the jury recognized the University of South Florida’s legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons to remove Ms. DeBose from her position,” Freeman said in an email to The Oracle. “However, we respectfully disagree with the finding that USF retaliated against Ms. DeBose in any way. USF values inclusion and diversity, and we strive to maintain a welcoming and collegial environment.

We look forward to vigorously pursuing an appeal in this case.”

DeBose said the university’s plans to appeal point to a level of “bitterness” that has been directed toward her throughout the case and added that an appeal may “deal yet another blow to its image and wallet.”

In a subsequent phone interview with The Oracle, DeBose added that it was not her initial plan to represent herself in the case and by doing so, she faced a set of unique challenges.

She said, especially since the case was so deeply personal, that trying to detach herself from the emotions of the case so that she could “effectively argue from a legal standpoint, as well as a factual standpoint” was difficult because of the stake that she had in it.

As far as what she hoped would have gone differently, DeBose, who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from USF and worked for the university for 27 years, said she wished her exit could have been more respectful.

“I just would have preferred a different sort of exit,” DeBose said.

“One that was respectful. One that was civil. One that reflected and showed appreciation to me for my contributions to USF.”

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COMAC

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“We’re really frustrated,” Givens said. “This bill came out of the blue for us.”

Givens said COMAC is meant to follow a timeline that caters to the students in the medical field.

“Right now, medical student organizations are already working on their budgets,” Givens said. “If the bill passes through Moneer (Kheireddine) and (vice president for Student Affairs & Student Success) Paul Dosal, the timeline is not something they would be able to accommodate to.”

After participating in viewpoint neutrality training — which is to prevent delegating funds unfairly to student organizations — Afifi said COMAC still presented an illegitimate budget, which was the breaking point for him.

“Year in and year out, we hear the same issues from COMAC — they’re not just mistakes at that point, they’re choices,“ Afifi said. “A lot of the times it has been a blatant disregard for abiding by SG standards.”

In previous years, SG would review the budgets of funding councils and divide the averages, but because of the allocation requests from COMAC every year, last year SG viewed the budgets individually.

“The dollar amounts that COMAC would request were so far above the uniform standard we had created that we were applying across the board,” Afifi said.

Afifi said looking at the numbers individually, “COMAC acted with no fiscal sense or logic.”

Senate Finance Chair Salud Martinez stated at the town hall that COMAC was mistakenly using Title VIII Finance Code instead of SOPs made by ASRC. Givens said the SOPs that COMAC used to allocate budgets last year was passed by the policy committee, but

It is unclear if the COMAC deletion bill will proceed any further.

ORACLE FILE PHOTO

ASRC did not agree until after the budget submissions were concluded.

COMAC said they were approved by the policy committee $7 a head for funding and were reduced to $4 a head by ASRC, which contributed to the budget being reduced by 75 percent this year, according to Givens.

In February of last year, COMAC presented a $106,501.89 budget request to ASRC and were allocated $49,961. Afifi said the numbers were an unrealistic amount, which is why the allocated amount is exceedingly lower.

According to Givens, COMAC was under the impression that ASRC and Student Business Services (SBS) used different entities and standards, which was a factor for their budget decisions.

Additional miscommunication issues included a confusion in documents that were supposed to be sent to the policy committee but instead were sent to ASRC and issues with specific budget forms that COMAC did not use.

Afifi said COMAC members knew that the possibility of the committee being terminated since May of last year.

Givens said if the deletion bill was discussed two to three years ago, when it was contextually relevant, then it would be appropriate to pass, but she

said COMAC was not responsible for the errors that were made in previous years.

During a COMAC meeting in January 2017, 57th term Senate President Aladdin Hiba documented infractions to attest to the mistakes he said COMAC was making on a yearly basis.

Hiba gave COMAC an ultimatum stating that if the council organized an efficient way to disburse funds, he would withdraw authorship of the bill he created to dismiss the council.

Any errors since then were not made out of malice, according to Givens, but out of miscommunication about ASRC’s allocation standards.

Givens said she cannot speak for the previous years, but she said she believes removing COMAC will negatively impact medical organizations and the work she has done thus far.

“With the efforts I have been making to improve COMAC, this is unfair treatment because I have made substantial improvements and taken every step necessary to make sure that we are voting and approving budgets in a neutral manner,” Givens said.

“Those steps that I have been taking are being disregarded.”

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OPINION

U N I V E RS I T Y O F S OU T H F L O R I DA

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The Kavanaugh hearings have left What you said the U.S. at a new low Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court Saturday. After weeks of contentious hearings and a barrage of sexual assault allegations, Kavanaugh was confirmed with the tightest margin of any Supreme Court nominee in modern times — 50-48.

This confirmation cost the U.S. too many and too great sacrifices. Political violence and harassment touched all parties involved. The presumption of innocence was destroyed.

The Supreme Court lost its reputation of independence from politics and the process cut the country to its core.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation left half of the country convinced that the system was completely broken.

There were no winners in this process.

The U.S. has reached a new low.

Political violence has become pervasive. We’ve moved beyond peaceful protests and into activist warfare.

Last week a Maryland congressman had his wrist bruised by protestors who broke into his office. Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine, cited harassment so intense she was forced to get a personal security detail as part of her decision to vote yes on Kavanaugh. At least three Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee had their personal home addresses and private phone

numbers published during Kavanaugh’s hearing.

Possible judicial outcomes and political differences have become a justification to persecute and harm people, even in their most private places.

The Supreme Court is no longer thought of as impartial or free from political influence.

Trump choosing another nominee, and Kavanaugh’s nomination specifically, sparked fears that Roe v. Wade would be overturned and that gay and immigrant rights would be slaughtered upon his arrival.

While these discussions were happening, in the Senate and across the nation, people forgot to discuss Kavanaugh’s actual judicial philosophy including his feelings on the Fourth amendment or his views on upholding the Constitution.

A judicial nomination shouldn’t be about the policies that will be written from the bench because courts aren’t supposed to write policy in the first place.

Finally, this confirmation process has left the country more horribly divided than before. Sexual assault has become a party-line weapon.

The presumption of innocence has been destroyed on the national stage. Half of the country believes that rapists can rise to lifetime appointments on the Supreme Court and the other half believes that they’re one false accusation away from

having their reputations and livelihoods destroyed.

It’s hard to know if the U.S. has hit rock bottom — the midterms are one month away, President Donald Trump has at least two more years in office and the push to harass public officials has only hardened.

The fight for Congress in 2018 will find new energy, with a 5-4 conservative majority sitting on the Supreme Court.

As Americans, we need to be soul-searching.

We can’t let violence and division destroy honesty and dialogue. We can’t let politics become our determinant of human goodness or worth.

Disagreements don’t give grounds for the assaults, both verbal and physical, that have become commonplace in politics.

We need to consider the future of our government. When the most impartial institution in our nation becomes a partisan battleground, like any law or policy in front of congress, we have failed. We lose perhaps the most important check on an ever-growing bureaucratic state and find ourselves fighting for control of yet another political tool.

Aida Vazquez-Soto is a senior majoring in political science.

Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman asked students if they agree with the Senate’s decision to appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

“Yes, because if it was never brought up, no one would have never known. So, I don’t think it affects his ability to do his job.”

— Alexa Laux, a freshman majoring in social work.

“I think the standards for a Supreme Court judge should be the highest and I think there should be more investigation for something like this.” ­— Alzunnatul Suvetcha, a sophomore majoring in health sciences.

“I think there should have been a more thorough investigation. When we have cases like this, we have to be more assertive and find out almost everything before moving forward.”

— Storm Smith, a junior majoring in political science.

“I think it’s OK, because a lot of people said there is not a lot of evidence.”

— Lauren Klima, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering.

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Volleyball

USF leads statistically, but loses 4-1 to Tulsa

By Sam Newlon S P O R T S

E D I T O R

USF volleyball lost its second game of the weekend when it fell 4-1 to conference opponent Tulsa at The Corral.

The Bulls (13-5, 2-3) led the Golden Hurricane (12-5, 4-1) in blocks, digs and kills, but trailed in the category that matters the most — points.

“Statistically, coming into the match today, [Tulsa] was No. 1 in the conference for digs and No. 1 in blocks,” coach Courtney Draper said. “For us to be able to match them or be higher than them in those categories, I was really proud of our defensive effort.”

The Bulls totaled 54 kills, 66

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willingness to go beyond the search process and help train Genshaft’s successor once they officially step into their role, as well as having a “large and dedicated team” that would be lead by the owner of the firm.

An official contract between the university and Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc. is not yet in place, but is in the works, following a unanimous vote by the BOT to confirm the search firm.

Lamb said what can be expected next in the search for the seventh USF system president is developing a profile of what the search committee and BOT are looking for in a candidate. “(Developing the profile) will be a very important process in which we will engage key stakeholders, both externally and internally, to make sure that we listen to the market, to individuals who can help us make the right selection and is consistent with our process around transparency and accountability,” Lamb said.

digs and seven blocks while Tulsa recorded 50, 58 and six, respectively.

Senior Reagan Davey hit .409 with 10 kills of her own. According to Draper, Davey will need to keep playing well for the Bulls to succeed going forward. “[Davey] had a great night for us with 10 kills and hitting over .400 from the right side,” Draper said.

“She’s a senior who’s playing with a lot of urgency and she’s going to be an important piece to our puzzle moving forward.”

Other bright spots for the Bulls included Jac’cara Walker, who had 17 kills and 11 digs and Nikkia Benitez, who played in three of four sets and had eight kills and nine digs.

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three years, so it’s kind of a big deal.”

Evelyne Viens recorded the Bulls’ fourth goal of the afternoon in the 77th minute. Viens’ goal was her 41st career goal, tying her with Siri Nordby (1997-2000) for most all-time goals in program history.

USF outshot ECU 20-6, with 10 of the shots being on target.

With 40 percent of their shots on goals finding the back of the net, the Bulls were pleased with their effort.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for weeks,” Anderson said. “We’ve been practicing our crosses, practicing our finishing, so I think it’s good that everyone as a team today came up and scored some goals.”

Hauksdottir echoed her teammate’s sentiments.

“We knew we had to be patient and keep shooting and some of them would go in,” Hauksdottir

“[Walker] had a great night, of course,” Draper said. “I also thought [Benitez] came off the bench and did a really good job offensively.

There were lots of positives to take away, but, unfortunately, we just came up short.”

The Bulls continue conference play next weekend at The Corral where they will take on UConn (10-8, 2-3) and Temple (4-13, 1-4) on Friday and Sunday.

“We are taking it one game at a time, so the focus will be on Friday all week,” Draper said. “It’s a dog fight in the middle for who’s going to finish at the top [of the conference].

We’re excited to be home again for another two matches.” said.

ECU was only able to record two shots on goal — one in the first half against starting goalkeeper Sydney Martinez and one in the second half against Rikki Farquharson, who came into the game in the 60th minute.

The win helps USF keep pace with Memphis atop the AAC table, with the Bulls still three points behind the Tigers, who defeated SMU on Sunday.

Coming up next for USF is its final road trip of the regular season. The Bulls travel to Tulsa on Thursday and Memphis on Sunday. With the season winding down and the top of the table cramped, every game matters.

“It’s huge,” Anderson said.

“Every game in conference is a big game. We want to win every single game and host [the AAC tournament] here, so we’re going to take it as serious as we can.”

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The Bulls’ rushing attack took center stage and freshman running back Johnny Ford was more than a formidable sidekick to Cronkrite. Ford rushed for 77 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns. Ford’s first touchdown of the day, with less than two minutes in the first half, propelled the Bulls to a 20-14 halftime advantage.

The Bulls’ offense performed better in the third quarter by scoring 28 points en-route to their seven total touchdowns and 574 yards from scrimmage.

In addition to a successful day on offense, the Bulls’ special teams were executing on their plays.

Place kicker Coby Weiss was perfect connecting on all three of his field goals and seven extra point attempts. Vincent Davis also provided a special teams

spark by forcing two fumbles on kickoffs and picking one up for a touchdown midway through the third quarter.

Defensively, the Bulls did enough to escape with a victory, but left a lot to be desired. The defense gave up 486 total yards, but only 85 yards on the ground.

“We’ve got to play better than how we played,” coach Charlie Strong said. “Cronkrite, big day for him and we ended up with five turnovers on defense.”

Although USF continued its undefeated season, the Bulls weren’t firing on all cylinders.

Several turnovers and a dominant rushing performance kept the shootout competitive. Moving forward, however, Strong expects his team to click.

“We’re a better football team than what we’re showing right now,” he said. “We’ve got to put it together.”

SPORTS

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Football

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Cronkrite sets school and conference records, leads No. 23 Bulls to victory

By Steven Gerardy C O R R E S P O N D E N T

No. 23 USF running back Jordan Cronkrite ran his way into the school’s record book Saturday in the Bulls’ 58-42 victory against UMass at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst, Mass.

Cronkrite seemed to find every hole provided by the Bulls’ offensive line as he ran for 302 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns. He surpassed the previous USF single-game record of 275 yards, which was set previously by both Andre Hall (2004) and Marlon Mack (2014).

He also became the AAC singlegame record holder by passing Navy’s Malcolm Perry (282 yards

in 2017).

Cronkrite’s 302 yards can’t be chalked up as an individual effort, however. He was quick to commend his teammates on their performance.

“It was a great job by the offensive line,” Cronkrite said. “I was just using my God-given skills and just doing what I could do to help my team win.”

In USF’s (5-0, AAC 1-0) last game against ECU, the offensive line allowed six sacks, but held UMass (2-5) to just two.

Another way Cronkrite helped the Bulls was by preventing an interception return for a touchdown. He recorded one tackle and was the last person who could have tackled UMass’ Bryton Barr on his way to the end

Jordan Cronkrite ran for 302 yards in USF’s 58-42 win against UMass. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS zone.

The Bulls scored on their first play from scrimmage on a 72-yard Blake Barnett touchdown pass to

Tyre McCants to get the offense started early. Barnett completed 17-24 passes for 209 yards.

n See FOOTBALL on PAGE 7

RUNDOWN Bulls crack top 25 in both polls

USF is ranked in both the Amway Coaches Poll and the AP Poll for the first time this season.

The Bulls are ranked No. 23 in each of the polls after their 58-42 win against UMass. They’re one of only 11 unbeaten teams in college football, three of which are in the AAC. UCF remains the highestranked team in the AAC at No. 9 in the Coaches Poll and No. 10 in the AP poll. Joining the Bulls and the Knights this week is Cincinnati, which is ranked No. 25 in both polls.

All three teams are in the AAC East and will play each other as the season continues. USF (5-0, 1-0) will play against Cincinnati (6-0, 2-0) in Ohio on Nov. 10. Two weeks after that, they’ll host rival school UCF (5-0, 2-0) for the War on I-4 on Nov. 23.

Women’s Soccer

Bulls stay undefeated at home in 4-0 win against ECU

By Brian Hattab S T A F F

W R I T E R

No. 25 USF women’s soccer found its offensive groove Sunday afternoon, defeating ECU 4-0 at Corbett Stadium.

Midfielder Andrea Hauksdottir led the way for the Bulls (8-2, 3-1), scoring two goals within two minutes of each other.

Hauksdottir’s goals, her second and third of the season, came off a free kick in the 55th minute and off an assist from forward Leah Ferlin in the 56th minute.

“I’m not the one who scores the goals, but I’m really happy I got

two goals in today,” Hauksdottir said. “But it was all about the team win, so I’m really proud of the team.”

The game was scoreless until the 44th minute when junior defender Rebekah Anderson scored her first career goal to put the Bulls up 1-0. She scored from inside the six-yard box after a cross from Sydny Nasello.

“I’m not going to lie, I was kind of shocked,” Anderson said. “I was not expecting it and I looked up and it was in. So it was really exciting for me. The first goal in

n See SOCCER on PAGE 7

Rebekah Anderson (17) reacts to her first career goal Sunday at Corbett Stadium. Andrerson’s goal proved to be the game-winner in USF’s 4-0 defeat of East Carolina. ORACLE PHOTO/BRIAN HATTAB